Morning journal and courier., 1887-06-27
BEFR AND DIGESTION.
DIR. HI. A. Hare Makes Some ExperI-
ments that will BE Interesting to Low
ers of Lager.

DIR. hi. A. Hare Makes Some ExperI-
ments that will BE Interesting to Low.
ers of Lager.
From the Medical News1
DR.. H. A. Hare, demonstrater of expert
mental therapeutics and instructor in ply
sical diagnosis in the University ef Pennsyl
vanis, says the physician is frequently puz
zled, when prescribing for conval escent
| patient, as to which alcoholic beverage of q
mild and pleasant character he can recon-
mend with the least fear of "upsetting" the
| stomach. The writer has, therefore, at
tempted to decide this question. Before
| passing to direct consideration of the meth
| DDS employed and the results obtained, it is
| necessary that few physiological and thera
| peutical points be brought forward. Every
| one knows that alcohol retards digestion ir
| the test tube, but aids it in the stomach; ane
| while these facts seem somewhat paradoxical
they are, in reality, perfectly logical, for the
| following reasons:
In the test tube we have given quantity
/ of digestive fluid on which the alcohol may
i act, and we cannot have any increase in the
\ quantity of that fluid, because it is surround
L ed by glass walls. In the stomach the alcohol
| acts quite as much on the digestive ferment
as it does in the test tube, but it also, by its
presence in that viscus, excites the gastric
glands to such an extent that an excess
| of gastric juice is secreted sufficient to coun
| terbalance any anti digestive influences. The
action of the spirit on the living tissue il
greater than its action on the digestive fer
| ments.
/ Theoretically, alcohol should never be used
| in indigestion or in conditions of gastric
| weakness; practically, every physician Of ex-
perience or education gives alcohol under
| Just these circumstances, and, very properly,
| too, gives the stronger alcoholic preparations
| instead of the weaker. In typhoid fever we
give brandy or whiskey in the first stages,
almost solely for the purpose of increasing
digestion.
It is also known by those interested in
| such matters in the profession that beer aids
digestion but little, or at all, by means of its
alcohol, since that constituent is present in
SO diluted form and in such small quantity
| that it can neither aid digestion to any ex-
tent by acting on the coats of the stomach
nor rstard it by influencing the digestive
fluid. 1t should not be forgotten that while
all alcoholic fluids theoretically retard gas
trio digestion, that beer does SO much less
than brandy or whiskey owing to its small
amount of alcohol, and while, as has already
been shown, this fact rather obtains against
its use, that this is overcome by the carbonic
acid and bitter principles of the beer, which
stimulate, excite, and act as bitter tonics on
the gastric glands!
Beers, to be wholesome, should, therefore,
contain carbonic acid and bitter principles,
the alcohol taking a subservient and al
most useless role SO far as digestion Is con-
cerned.
To sum up the results of these expert
ments, we find that the beers examined
varied in their actions as much as fifty nine
minutes, and that while most beers do not
retard digestion in all probability in the
stomach, that others aid digestion very mater
tally.